MULCH:
Myth vs Reality.

Part 2: "Cubic Yards, Scoops & Fillers" The calls come in to our Garden Center & Nursery by the hundreds everyday: Do you sell mulch? How much is it a scoop? Is it bagged? Do you deliver? What's a cubic yard? Is it treated?"

We don't sell treated mulch, because it's sprayed with herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, which keep weed, insect and mushroom growth to a minimum, but can be toxic to human and household pet health.

A scoop is not just a scoop and depends upon who's using what machine-sized bucket; who really knows what volume you're getting? A noted local garden center chain store offers mulch for $18 a scoop. That's only half a yard:at a full yard rate it's easily the most expensive mulch in York County. We sell a Cubic Yard, that's 27 CuFt (2 scoops of our JD Skid Loader bucket) for $28 picked-up, $33 delivered within 10 miles. Some sub-standard mulch vendors sell scoops (1/2 or 3/4 CuYd) for as much as $20-$22; calculate for yourself it's very expensive bought from such unscrupulous people.

Most places that sell mulch in York County sell double-shredded hardwood mulch; the third worst kind you can buy, next to cocoa shell mulch and pine bark chips, both of which float away in a rain storm and the cocoa shell still gets a fungus beneath that affects plant health. Fungus comes from mushroom compost or organic material being added as a filler, which also means you're not getting a true cubic yard of mulch; the seller has bulked it up with fillers. It's scary what people use as fillers: ground-up skids and pallets; a local paper mill company even tries to sell their toxic by-products mixed-in with their cheap-quality, ground-up, hardwood mulch; we're not buying that lie either. But a hardware store, several low-class nurseries, a farmer's market, tool & equipment store, and a home & garden chain apparently do. (It's weed free and insect free because nothing can live in that toxic mess, including your plants).

We sell only Premium, Double-Shredded, Dark-Bark Mulch, the finest type found anywhere. It is the bark only, no filler, double-shredded, does not float or blow away, is not treated, stays dark all year, is great for banks and hills, gets no fungus, has no insect problems and is competitively-priced with any around.

Beware the mulch vendors. They rip you off at every turn. There are no good deals on mulch. Ask hard questions about what you're buying: the volume. treatments, fillers etc. Then come to us for an honest cubic yard of the finest quality mulch.

Yes Virginia, there is again truth in advertising. Always has been in ours.

In addition to the finest Premium, Double-Shredded, Dark-Bark Mulch, we feature over 200 varieties of annuals and herbs, over 735 varieties of perennials, ornamental grasses and bamboos, and more than 1250 cultivars of nursery stock, ranging from the common to the very rare, unusual and hard-to-find.

Our Collector's Rare Plant Nursery has been supplying gardening enthusiasts for over four years, and is a must for connoisseurs and serious collectors.

In addition to the very best in plants, we have the finest hand tools, gardening supplies and accessories, composting and garden improvement aids, elegant patio and deck furniture, residential-commercial landscape and interiorscape design, xeriscape (water conservation landscaping), shrub & tree moving service, Alpine Trough Gardens and other container gardens, water gardens, unique Water Features for your planted garden, environmentally-safe fertilizers and pest control products, landscape supplies, bird care and feeding, books, pottery, stone & brick and special accessories that make gardening easy and fun. And much more.

Our Nursery Division can supply any request from the common to very rare and unusual material. And if you need a tree or shrub moved, we feature a special team capable of easily moving anything from 1-inch to 10-inch diameter trees.

Our unconditional guarantee: if for any reason any product or plant you purchase at John Shelley's Garden Center & Nursery doesn't perform to your satisfaction, simply bring it back with its original receipt and we'll give you another of equal value.

Once again, no other Garden Center, Nursery or Mass Merchandiser even comes close.